How much weight should I lose? (Easy, 3-step calculation)

The process of dieting, breaking the diet, dieting some more, and doing endless cardio seems to go on forever.

One problem that holds people back is not having a clear strategy, a clear goal, and a realistic timeline of how long it will take to get there.

With that in mind, you might be wondering: How much weight should I lose?

The answer: There’s no amount you should lose. It all depends on your current weight and your goal.

To me, having a weight loss goal or body weight goal is useless. You should shoot for a bodyfat percentage goal.

Below, I’ll break down the different body fat percentage zones and roughly what each looks like. You may have to lose more or less depending on how far you want to go and where you’re starting.

In general, though, most average people (a little bit more belly fat than they’d like but not significantly overweight) will want to lose anywhere from 10-20 pounds of fat to get a more trim physique.

But it’s much, much more complicated than that. Below, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know and how to make a plan to get started!

Disclaimer: You (probably) don’t need to lose any weight

Let’s start here for just a quick moment.

You might not need to lose any weight to be healthy. There is a wide range of healthy body types, weights, and BMIs (body mass index).

Recent research puts into doubt the idea that “being fat” is inherently a health problem.

Yes, it can be correlated closely with things that ARE health problems, like:

Cholesterol

Diabetes

Joint problems

Shortness of breath

But it’s becoming more and more accepted that a few extra pounds around the middle don’t necessarily represent a big health risk if other indicators are in line.

(The exception might be if you’re classified as medically obese, which is a BMI of 30 or higher. That’s around 225 pounds for a 6 foot male. Though BMI is a notoriously horrible measure of wellness in general.)

So how much weight should you lose to be healthy? Possibly none.

And you probably shouldn’t think in those terms unless you’re obese and your doctor recommends weight loss for your health and longevity.

Going back to our example, let’s say your goal is to get down to a healthy, fit, very achievable 15% bodyfat percentage.

Goal Body Weight = (160 pounds (lean mass) x 100) / (100-15)

Thats GBW = (160×100) / 85 = 188.23 pounds

Our goal bodyweight for a 200-pound man at 20% body fat who wants to get down to a slim, athletic 15% body is 188 pounds, which is around 12 pounds of fat loss.

If you’re head’s swimming, that’s OK. We’re done!

Just plug your own numbers and goals into the formula. Let me know in the comments if you’re getting suck.

If you just want to hear the logic and skip the numbers, basically here’s what we did:

We took your current bodyweight and estimated body fat to find how much lean mass you have

We know that at your goal weight, we want to keep as much of that lean mass as possible

So we know your goal body fat percentage and your lean mass at the goal weight, so now we can work backward to find the goal weight itself

The difference between your current weight and your goal weight is the amount of fat you’ll want to lose

Give it a try!

(Remember, this is not an exact science! For example, you probably won’t be able to retain 100% of your lean mass. And you may have under or overestimated you starting body fat percentage. But at least we have something to work from now.)

Quick guide to losing fat, NOT muscle

A big mistake a lot of people make in weight loss and dieting is completely forgetting about their muscles.

Sure, you’ll lose fat, too. But you could get way better results if you could just convince your body to keep the muscle, lose the fat instead!

This is a pretty big topic that’s more than we can cover here, but in essence, it’s pretty simple.

Do these 3 things to keep as much muscle as possible while dieting and losing weight (you might even build some muscle):

Eat lots of protein: .8 to 1 gram per day, per pound of bodyweight, should be good. Get ready, it’s a lot more than you’re probably used to. But your body needs a lot of protein to fuel those muscles and trigger growth or retention.

Strength train: I’m a huge fan of lifting weights. You don’t need to blast your muscles every day, just hit them hard 2-3 times per week to tell your body, “Hey, I need these muscles!”

You could also do any kind of workout that provides a full body strength challenge, like yoga, BeachBody, P90X, etc.

(If you’re looking for a good program, I have a ton of suggestions depending on your gender, goal, and body type.)

Rest: Don’t kill yourself in the gym 6-7 days per week. You won’t be eating enough calories to fuel that kind of output. Workout hard 2-3 times per week and do some low key activities like walking on rest days. Your body needs to recover!

Eat enough: Yes, enough. Crash diets are a horrible idea. All you need to trigger weight loss is a small calorie deficit every day and the results will come.

And finally, if you want to check out the nutrition and workout plan (just 3 short workouts per week) that helped me lose over 15 pounds of fat and build some muscle, head over to my review of the Warrior Shredding Program.

About Me

Hi there! My name is Evan. I’m a dad and 30-something-year-old fitness enthusiast. I started this site to share all of the best information and products I could find on my way to better health and a stronger body. I hope it helps you, too!

Disclosure: I may receive commissions or advertising fees from products and brands mentioned on the Trusty Spotter. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. But I always stand by the research and recommendations that I provide here.